Novant Health Inc.

Introduction

Following the acquisition of skills and competencies for a given field of work, the next thing for anyone is to acquire a position from a reputable company. This journey to job attainment is never easy. It requires persistence and the significant amount of research in the companies one desires to be hired in. While researching potential organizations to work in it is imperative for the person to look for the factors such as the status of the firm. It is in terms of its financial standing. When the company is financially stable it becomes a right choice for a potential employee. On the other hand, when it is seen to be in financial turmoil one can only expect the issues such as layoffs, poor pay, and increased levels of redundancy. The management of the organization is another essential thing to be taken into consideration. It is the leadership of the company and gaining information about that enables an individual to gain some perspectives on its organizational culture. Other factors that can be considered while searching for a potential firm to be hired into include the company’s development, strategic and tactical planning, marketing plans, and its environment. One organization that stands out as a desirable place to work is Novant Health Inc. Despite belonging to the health care sector, it offers a diversified career choice. It includes but not limited to finance, marketing, human resources, and procurement. The thesis of the current paper is that Novant Health Inc. is an excellent organization to work at. The reason is related to the strides it has made in its growth and development providing to its employees as well. It can be demonstrated by assessing the organization’s global status, management, strategic and tactical planning, marketing, financials, and SWOT analysis.

Background of the Organization

Novant Health Inc. is a health care company that was formed in 1997 following the merger of Carolina Medicorp of Winston-Salem in North Carolina and Presbyterian Health Services of Charlotte in North Carolina (Novant Health). It is headquartered in Winston-Salem in North Carolina. The health care organization operates under the guidance of its mission, vision, and values, which have enabled it to meet the health care needs of its patients sufficiently. The company’s mission is, “Novant Health exists to improve the health of our communities, one person at a time.” (Novant Health, 2016). Its vision is to deliver the most remarkable patient experience in every dimension every time. The company works under five main values: compassion, diversity and inclusion, personal excellence, team work, and courage (Novant Health ). The firm is acting in four states in the US and encompasses an integrated system of physician clinics, various outpatient centers, and hospitals. As it currently stands, the healthcare organization has about 1200 physicians and 25000 employees (Novant Health). It operates from an estimated total of 500 locations, which consist of various medical centers and hundreds of outpatient facilities and clinics (Novant Health). The organization is believed to serve a figure of 4 million patients annually. In addition to providing healthcare services, it also engages in community programs with the aim of giving back to the societies operating from. Novant has been certified in a number of areas such as a chest pain center, a congestive heart failures program, and heart surgery. Therefore, the health care organization has established itself as an excellent place to receive health care services and to work within.

Global Status

Despite having an estimated number of 500 locations, according to Novant (2916), Novant Health is far from becoming global. It is because almost all its facilities are located in the United States and, in particular, within only four of them. Therefore, for the company to be able to reach this level there are certain actions it can take in order to do so. Further, the firm should consider brainstorming on a prospective target market as well as the services it is offering.

First of all, in order for Novant Health to achieve a global outreach, it is significant for it to do the following things. It is imperative to reduce its current dependence on the markets it has already developed. That means the markets in the four states in the US. Depending on the current situation it prevents the company from realizing other alternatives that are available in the international arena (Jaakkola et al. 6). In order for the firm to go global, it should also consider tapping into the government and other private sources of funds for the needed financing. Thus, concerning Novant, it should take its advantage of the state’s interest in boosting exports whether in form of goods or services to access the cash from. The health care organization should also invest in an extensive research and development. It is essential for gaining the information on potential countries it can start expanding to. More specifically, these states should be the ones, which have a good relationship with the US.

Secondly, the company should work on developing a prospective target market that will have a more global outreach. It can be done by structuring the main elements to be aimed at in the following way (Twarowska and Kąkol 1006). Geography should entail individuals from all over the world. Demographics should include the persons and families of any age range, earning the above average income. Psychographics should entail increasing some resources to invest in health and interested in using innovative and state of art medical facilities.

Finally, it should redefine the services that it is offering to potential clients in a manner that will not only meet their needs but also appeal to them. Thus, to be able to beat the competition and successfully globalize the health care organization it should structure its health care offers in a way that shows them as the top of art. Moreover, the clients should be able to access these services at an affordable cost. It will be effective in gaining a competitive advantage in the global market (Wheelen et al. 72).

Management

The role of management in the organization cannot be overlooked. In this case, the authority refers to all levels of management: high, middle, and low level. High level one concerns top managers such as company executives being in the board at Novant Inc. On the other hand, middle level management refers to the managers who are in charge of sections and departments in the health care organization. Low level authority representatives include supervisors and coordinators. This role of management in the company is even more significant for its global growth (Rodriguez, Barcos, and Alvarez 210). Therefore, for the organization such as Novant Health Inc., the authority will affect it in the global industry in a number of areas and ways. It will mostly be done through its role in the certain aspects of its expansion strategy.

For instance, the management of Novant Health will impact on the organization in the global industry through its role in determining the strategic directions for its expansion plan. A significant component of this trend can include a statement of commitment towards the firm’s expansion as asserted by (Geiersbach 124). Therefore, the management is once again charged with the task of getting all stakeholders to become committed to it.

The authority of Novant Health can impact on the firm in the global industry through its ability to control the development of its expansion processes and stages. It includes determining the exact process the company will follow in its expansion and how the stages follow one another. This process should be carefully considered to ensure the flow is as successful as possible.

Management will also provide leadership to the selected project teams having the objective to oversee the organization’s expansion thereby impacting on the company in the global industry. This leadership will be essential in order to provide guidance on how the firm should expand, which markets it may cover, and within what timeline (Rodriguez, Barcos, and Alvarez 224). Management will act to ensure that all aspects of the needs to be accomplished for the organization’s spreading to be done in the most proficient manner to ensure the firm successfully globalizes.

Strategic and Tactical Planning

Organizational planning is essential in providing the direction towards the needs to be accomplished by the company within a given time frame. It is critical for all types of enterprises, but more for health care ones. The reason is that these firms are dealing with safeguarding life thus being vitally important (Perera and Peiró 52). Strategic and tactical planning are some of the most common types of organizational scheduling that health care companies such as Novant Health are involved in. In strategic one, the organization sets in place some long term goals that it wishes to accomplish in future. It can happen within a time period of five to ten years. Strategic planning is very critical for each organization. The reason is that it acts as a foundational basis; and, in many instances, it dictates decisions in the long term. Moreover, it is critical because it guides the solutions to be made in the company and significantly influences organizational culture. For such firm as Novant Health, an example of the goal set through strategic planning is to have increased the amount of its new patients by 20 percent in the next five years.

Tactical planning, on the other hand, is a process of taking the organization’s strategic scheduling and setting forth its specific short term actions towards realizing it. Thus, tactical plans break down the firm’s objectives set into much narrower and actionable ones. For instance, in response to the strategic aim created for Novant Health related to increasing the number of new patients, the tactics that can be used is as follows. It should involve carrying out regular staff meetings to brain storm on how to improve patient care, asserting the organization’s commitment to provide unwavering patients’ satisfaction, and creating incentive programs for the staff based on the increased referral volume.

The problem that appears during strategic and tactical planning for most firms is related to participants. That means the individuals who should participate in these planning processes have seen many organizations experience profound fails in their planning for the future and how they need to accomplish it. The common misconception has been for management alone to be involved in strategic and tactical planning. Organizations should, however, refrain from this kind of thinking. The people to be involved in this process in addition to the authority should be all of the company’s stakeholders and more importantly employees being its most vital parties (Perera and Peiró 50). Involving all of them is essential in ensuring these plans are successfully formulated and implemented as well.

Marketing

Novant Health Inc.’s marketing operations are directed towards enabling it to expand and reach new customers. Assessing the organization’s marketing communications will entail determining its target markets, as well as approaching to securing markets and competitors.

Target Market

The target market for Novant Health is diverse in its nature. In determining this destination area, it is essential to note the not profit nature of the organization. Thus, the company’s main aim is to help the community where it serves. Therefore, its target market is made up of middle class individuals and the families from the four states it is covering and their environments with the medical needs. These necessities range from simple ailments, checkups, and chronic conditions such as cancer and diabetes.

Approach

Novant Health has developed various methods of reaching its target markets. Most of its approaches to interact with its destination clients are highly influenced with technological advancement. One of such methods used by Novant to reach its target market is direct mailing and emailing. The post is a traditional means of interacting with destination customers (Jaakkola et al. 8). In this regard, the organization sends newsletters, health and wellness bulletins to its clients in a bid to interact with them. Electronic mailing has also proven to be a useful method for the firm to reach out its target market. Novant Health also makes use of the customer relationship management system (CRM) that enables it to provide excellent care services. Moreover, the company is able to respond to the queries that potential customers may have concerning it. The rise of social media and smartphone technology has proven to be useful for the firm and its marketing approach. The organization thus applies SMM with the platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to advertise itself through some ads and also interact with its target markets on its official social media accounts.

Competitors

Throughout its operations, Novant Health has faced a stiff competition from a number of strong rivals. This challengecan to some extent be attributed to the following fact. The health care organization is non-profit. As a result, it is committed to provide some services despite the patients’ ability to pay. An example of a strong competitor for Novant Health is Greenville Health System. This firm is considered to be the largest acute care hospital in North Carolina. This state is one of those ones where Novant leads its substantial operations (Hoovers). It also faces some competition from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. This health care organization provides a significant challenge as it is considered to be the largest employer in the Forsyth County. It is an area where Novant has strong ties as well. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority is another competitor. The competition between these two health care organizations is fierce. 16 hospitals of Novant Health and 35 hospitals of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority are competing for an approval of additional bids in the Mecklenburg County (Hoovers).

Financials

The following financial information for Novant Health Inc. is before the organization’s expansion. In the first place, the finances of the company show stability even during the times of uncertainty and strength while all is falling under changes. The organization’s strong financial results have enabled it to invest in the health of every community it serves to. With the past several years, the firm has managed itself with a strong sense of financial responsibility even as it relates itself for the changes in the health care industry.  It is related to strong financial results that are necessary for the company to be able to reinvest in its communities, facilities, and stakeholders as a whole.

The specific financial data to be highlighted are done for the fiscal year 2014. The organization has made the net income of $201.8 million on its operating revenue of $3.8 billion (Novant 10). In addition, the health care company has also reported a community benefit of the total amount of $639.2 million (Novant 10). It has included $135.5 million catering for direct charity care given the fact that Novant is a non-profit firm (Novant 10).

The company’s finances have mostly been directed towards reinvests operating and investment income in new technology and facilities. It is also determined at the improvement of hospitals, equipment, and general community health needs. It can be demonstrated by the health care organization’s decision to invest more than 266 million to construct projects, upgrade and replace equipment at various facilities, and implement an electronic health record of its medical centers (Novant 10).

It is significant to note that there have been a number of reforms impacting the health care industry especially in the health insurance market following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Therefore, the organization has suffered a significant financial setback. The reason is that it is related to the reduction of self-pay patients. Despite this, the organization’s management asserts the following fact. Despite a shift in the economic environment, its commitment to provide exceptional care to communities they serve shall not waver.

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